All Computers Have a Recycle Bin
by Rock Raider Fan 001
Summary: Set from minutes to months from the end of Portal 2, GLaDOS discovers that personalities from the differant cores she had attached had rubbed off onto her somehow. And Chell makes a tough decision!
1. The Story So Far

"So you know what? You win! Just go!" GLaDOS said as the elevator pulled away.

She chuckled "It's been fun. Don't come back!"

Chell was standing thoughtless at the words GLaDOS said, then the elevator stopped and four of the familiar tripodal, spherical, killing machines appeared in front of the elevator!

_No!_ She thought, _Why did she do this to me when she promised me freedom? _Abruptly, the turrets laser guides winked off and started humming a soothing melody. It made her relax a little, but she didn't let her guard down!

The elevator moved up a bit more and then a whole room of turrets was shown. She flinched a little but there was a turret still singing the melody in cute little "Doo's". The they started singing in what she thought was words but couldn't understand, Italian, she thought, but she did recognise two words "Oh Chell" which meant the song was directed to her. She relaxed again, but more so, still not letting her guard down, she thought she could see a rocket turret activating, but it was just one of Wheatley's hybrid turret/cube thingies. Wheatley… she wondered what was happening to him.

* * *

"Space! Space! Space! Space! Space! Space, all around me! Space! Space! Space!" Babbled the Space Core

"YES I KNOW, MATE! WE'RE IN SPACE! NOW STOP TALKING ABOUT IT!" Wheatley yelled.

It wasn't pleasant to hear this continuos babbling about space. But, he had to admit, it did make for some interesting conversation. And the space core knew quite a lot for someone who looks, and sounds, dumber than bricks.

"SP-AAAAACCCEEEE!" the little core shouted "Spaceship, rhymes with space."

"No it doesn't mate, space does not…" he thought a moment "Space ship? Where?" he asked

"Up there! Spaceship rhymes with space!"

Wheatley turned his photoreceptor to look at the looming, black, metallic mass coming towards them. Wheatley's eye turned smaller than a pea at the sight!

TBC


	2. Life Anew

"Uhh, mate? Do you think that ship is friendly?" Wheatley asked a note of nervousness in his voice

"Space! Space! Space! Space! Space! Space! Space! Space! Space! Space!" The core muttered to itself

"I might have known…" Wheatley said, a little annoyed

All of a sudden, a hatch on the side of the ship opened and ZPEM Claws extended and started pulling them in. Then, every thing went black…

Chell had found a path through the wheat field and it went to a small farm. Then she accidentally dropped the Companion Cube, and a hatch opened. It revealed a piece cake, dry Asian noodles, some water and, a Portal Gun!

Chell, now armed with, not only a Portal Gun, but a new found confidence ran across the path, thinking nothing, but nothing, could stop her now. Unfortunately, someone did.

"Hey! You!" A man called "You're trespassing! Get off my land or I may have to call the police, or else deal with it myself!"

Obviously, he was the farmer, and he wasn't too happy about Chell being there!

She bolted to the nearest exit, to a road, and she ran, ran like nobodies business! This time, nothing could stop her! She was wrong again!

A squad car saw her and, via megaphone, told her to stop. Stop, she did! The squad car pulled up to her and gave her a once-over,

"Name?" the policeman said.

Chell pulled out a card and showed it to him.

The card read.

Test Subject ID: #122-7605

First name: Chell

Last name: -REDACTED-

Gender: Female

DOB: 08/24/87

The police officer looked at it in astonishment. "Ma'am, This card looks official, but you look barely out of your twenties to be born in 1987!"

Chell just stared at him. Obviously he was wrong, If she was barely out of her twenties, the year would have to be like 2006.

This is where history is made, Chell is about to crack her shell.

"W-what year i-is this?" She managed

"2534! I am just as stunned as you are!"

TBC


	3. Core Conundrum

Chell would have to get used to this talking thing.

"A-are you q-quite sure that t-this is 2534?" She asked

"It says so on the calendar… but maybe you were born in 2487?" the officer said, thoughtfully but he passed it up as a mistake.

"Well, don't go running on any more roads, and certainly don't go running through someone's property without permission!" the officer said. "Would you like a ride to the city?"

Chell nodded, and climb in the back.

"By the way, what is that thing you're holding?" he asked

"W-which one?"

"Both of them."

"Well…." Chell began but clearly didn't have a clue of how to tell him.

"It's private." She said at last

"Well, if you're hauling contraband, I'll have to arrest you!"

"What's "Contraband"?" Chell asked

"Stolen goods." The officer said "But I doubt a woman as innocent looking as yourself would do that."

_Innocent is not the word!_ Chell thought, remembering what she did to GLaDOS. She wondered if she would forgive her if she ever came back…

* * *

"Well after that fiasco, we should be under control. GLaDOS said, "Pity I don't have any more test subjects after I killed them all, turning them into killing machines!"*

P-Body squeaked thoughtfully, and gave ATLAS a look, then ATLAS bellowed a question.

"NO I DO NOT THINK THOSE BIRDS ARE ADORABLE! They're supposed to be _killing machines_!" she said putting emphasis on Killing Machines.

P-Body squeaked another question

"I don't think they're "Kinda Cute" either!" she said, she was getting frustrated at them.

P-Body squeaked again.

"No we shall not hold a democracy at the birds being cute!"

Too late. They had already started voting.

"Well, my vote is..." she put in a sugary sweet voice "THAT YOU GET OUT EMIDIATLY!"

The two robots complied and ran out, scared for their lives!

"What am I going to do with you…" she said "You two are more of a moron then _he _was!"

* * *

"OH NO! NUHNUHNUHNUHNUHNUH NO! DON'T HURT ME! HURT _HIM_,HE IS ANNOYING ME TO THE BRINK OF INSANITY!" Wheatley shouted in utter anguish

"You two are pathetic!" A familiar voice piped up

"Yeah, you know who I am! DUN DUN DUN DUHN DUN, DUHDUHDUHDUN DUN, DUN DUH DI DUN DUHN, DOOH!" The voice… uhhhh… hummed?

"OH, ADVENTURE SPHERE! Boy am I glad to see… what are you doing here, anyway?" said Wheatley

"More to the point: Where's the space?" the Space Core said

"First of all, the space is outside! Secondly, I was picked up first, and I know these guys! I had talked with them over Facebook!" Adventure Core said.

"Really, I'm more of a Twitter core myself…" Wheatley said "err, but how did you know about us out here?"

"Well, no offence but, we thought you were space junk! See, this ship is a salvage ship and they're taking trash to the scrap yard back in Michigan." He said

"Oh, alright then. Better to be thought to be useless junk, then to be useful cores and not get picked up at all!" Wheatley conceded

"Yup! Good thing we picked you up too! We need to get you back to Aperture! Space is not a good home for you." Adventure Core said.

"YES IT IS! Ba baba ba ba, space!" said you-know-who

"Well, we're about seventy light-years away from Earth! We just stopped here to pick up you two and a few other things."

"Like, as a matter of _fact_, me." Said another familiar voice.

"Oh, no…! Wheatley said quietly

TBC

* * *

***Play the "Peer Review" DLC in the CoOp section in Portal 2  
**


	4. Planes, Games and two annoying bots

Chell arrived at the city, it was called Fort Exon. A nice name, it made it sound secure and powerful, Fort and Exon respectively.

"Thanks for the ride, mister." Chell said, she was getting used to talking now, but was still fairly quiet as a lamb.

"No problem, miss uhh..."

"Just call me Chell, I have no idea what my last name is anyway."

They had stopped outside a motel. It wasn't large but it had a nice number of rooms. She stepped inside the lobby and she found the main desk with a perky looking woman seated at it.

"Hello there, miss! Would you like a room?" she said, in a bubbly, optimistic voice. She looked down at my clothes and her smile seemed to waver.

"What an… uh… interesting style of clothing you have!" she said trying to spark a conversation. Obviously, their policy was to get to know their guests a bit better. Chell didn't like it one bit! She thought it was nosy.

"Yeah…" Chell said, after all, she isn't the most talkative person in the world.

"Well, here are your keys, room #122!" she said

Chell cringed at the numbers; they were exactly the same as the first three digits in her test subject ID.

"Thank you." She said instead

"You're welcome! Have a nice stay!" the receptionist said, in her usual optimistic way.

She reached her room and, thankfully, it didn't look like the motel-esque room she had woken up in who knows how many days, or even weeks, ago. This one had a nicer bed, and the furniture was placed differently, and the TV was on a table near the wall, and a strange grayish rectangular box with purple buttons on it was underneath it. A cord extended out from it to a weird rectangular remote with circular edges, with two familiar purple buttons going diagonally upwards labeled B and A, and two lighter purple buttons on top labeled Y and X next to it, all on the right side, and on the left side, was a cross shaped button with arrows on them, in the middle had two buttons labeled Select and Start respectively. On the top had two words, the first one said "Super", the other she couldn't pronounce. Next to the strange machine had a basket full of cartridges of sorts, they were unlabeled, but they had a name of whatever was on here written in black marker. The one she picked up caught her interest.She put the strange cartridge in where she thought it was supposed to go, and pressed the button, labeled, Power. The TV flicked on and the unpronounceable word appeared on the screen, next to "Presents". And blocky shapes of what she thought were planes of some sort appeared, and orange wedges appeared with a distinct PI-YOW sound, and, abruptly, of the some of the planes exploded. Then this incredibly blocky object started slowly toward this blue planet, launching things that looked like butterflies, then one of the butterfly things started towards the screen, firing the wedge shapes, lasers she decided, at the screen, and then it faded to black. Then the title of the cartridge appeared with a rotating plane in the background, along the edge were animals. In the center of the screen were the words: "Press Start" so she did…

Orange and blue, were the least of GLaDOS's problems, pestering her with giving them games to play. Scientists don't play games! They like order and control, unlike those two brats.

"Alright, you two, I've got a game for you: See if which one of you can get up to the main parking lot first." GLaDOS said, she has to keep them entertained. It's like raising two children. She eventually let the two birds go, because they didn't get large enough for them to be killing machines, unfortunately. Orange and Blue were getting on her nerves a lot these days, since she retired them from testing. Then she had an idea.

"I'll make a game for them, which they can play on the mainframe." GLaDOS said "It's clearly never been done before. I can use 3D polygons for the users!" she said as she opened up Maya. She has no idea that official Video Games existed since 1972. Poor GLaDOS, she didn't know what she missed. But they are still making video games.

She opened up everything she needed to code and script, and started making a video game for Orange and Blue.

TBC


	5. Job Interview

"The last Metroid, is in captivity…" Said the tinny voice on the TV "The galaxy is at peace…"

Chell's eyes were red; she had spent over 6 hours playing this machine. She wanted to stop, but the voice from the game made her want to see what was happening.

Then abruptly, she fell asleep, TV still running.

Chell awoke and the TV was on standby, so she turned it off. She went down stairs to the lobby where that cheerful girl was, and she was still there.

"Hello, did you have a nice sleep?" she asked

"If you think falling asleep at 1:00 in the morning in front of the TV after a cliff hanger of this game I played? Then yes, I had a good sleep." Chell said a little miffed.

"Oh," the girl said, taken aback "Well, I hope you have a better day then!"

"I hope so too…" she said

Chell walked out of the building, aware that she will have to pay for her stay at some point. She will have to get a job, how hard can it be?

* * *

"Why did you have to bring _him _along!" Wheatley said

"Same reason we brought you two along!"

"Oh, right."

"The Fact Sphere is not a piece of junk, the Fact Sphere is not corrupt, the Fact Sphere is not a dumb-dumb, and the Fact Sphere's name is Craig, which, according to advanced algorithms, is the world's best name!"

"Okay then, what's the world's worst name then?" Wheatley asked

"The World's worst name is Gareth."

"Okay then, _Gareth_, will you stop doing "fact, blah bla bla bla blah!" then?" Wheatley said, in distaste

"The Fact Spheres name is Craig, not Gareth."

"Shut yo' mouth!" Rick said

"The adventure sphere is a blowhard and a coward, The Intelligence Dampening sphere is a great oaf, the Space Sphere will never go back to space, and the Fact Sphere is the most intelligent sphere and the most handsome." "Craig" said

"You're now just putting everyone below you, now. So, GET OUT!" Wheatley said

"You are all… I'll have to get back to you on that." And with that, the Fact Sphere had stormed off on his management rail.

"Hey, Rick, can I get a management rail too? One for the Space Sphere, as well." Wheatley requested.

"Sure thing bud, I'll just go and ask for one!" he said

* * *

"Well, what are your credentials? Any work experience at a coffee shop?"

"No, but I need a job in order to pay for my motel room." Chell said

"Hmmmm, well, I'll have to assign you a guide. You not only have to have knowledge in working a cash register and a coffee brewer, you also need manners." The manager said

"Manners?" Chell asked

"Do you know what politeness is?"

Chell thought about that for a moment,

"I think so, it's, umm, well, err, it's uh, saying a nice thing to someone and not be rude?" Chell asked, to clarify

"Yes, and politeness is the baseline for manners."

"Okay, I think I got it now. You said I might need a guide?"

"I didn't say you might need one, I said I'll give you one. SADIE!" She called

"Yeah?" Sadie called back

"This girl called, what was your name again?"

"Chell."

"This girl called Chell needs work experience."

"Okay! I'll be right over!"

TBC

* * *

**If anyone can guess what the game Chell was playing in the previous chapter, chapter 4, I'll award an some one to have their Portal OC in my fanfic,**** I'll PM you if you get it right! ;)  
**


	6. Hero of the Hour

"Orange, Blue, may I present to you: The Aperture Science Computer-aided Entertainment System, or ASCES." GLaDOS said

ATLAS and P-Body didn't look very impressed, but they only got a vague idea of what it was for.

"I built it myself," She told them "Well, aren't you going to try it out?"

ATLAS and P-Body shrugged, they probably didn't have a choice in the matter though. They took positions at a desk and started up the program. And enjoyed every minute of it.

P-Body squealed in excitement. And ATLAS bellowed a laugh; this was just as fun as the tests GLaDOS put them through.

* * *

"Finally, I don't have to entertain them throughout the day." GLaDOS said, relieved.

"Well, you've passed the interview with flying colors!" the manager said

"Thank goodness." Chell said relieved

"Now you just need Sadie to help you with the first few days."

"Okay then, where is she?"

"She went home an hour ago, why?"

"Just asking, I could've started today if she was still here."

"Okay then, you probably could've, but since you don't have any work experience whatsoever, you still need Sadie." She said

"I know." Chell replied, "I just was pointing that out."

"You're very smart for someone who just started speaking yesterday."

Chell was surprised to hear that. How could she have known? She didn't even tell the officer that she hadn't spoken since before the Aperture incident.

"H-how do you know that?" Chell probed carefully

"The officer that picked you up is my friend's husband, and she said that he said that you sounded like that you didn't talk for a while."

"Oh, okay then, well he's right." Chell said, relieved.

"Well, I think you might be a good employee, you may leave if you want to."

"Thank you, I'll leave now."

Chell walked out of the coffee shop and past the alley, and alley that's usually empty, but there were three men wearing balaclavas, holding knives and guns. At the end of the alley, was a woman with a uniform that was similar to the one the coffee shop had. Her nametag had the name "Sadie" on it! Chell was frightened; she didn't know what to do, and her Portal Gun, half the enrichment center from her hand, in her duffle bag. And what's worse, those men saw her!

"Take her out, we don't want any witnesses!" one of the men shouted

"STOP!" Chell shouted back "Or I'll stop you myself!"

Two of the men laughed so hard they nearly asphyxiated, the other, the leader she thought, was staring at her blankly with his arms crossed.

"How do you suppose to do that?" the leader challenged. And Chell, cursing herself for not having a plan, just stood there, glaring at them.

"I'll," she said through gritted teeth "Well I'll…" Then it hit her, cursing herself again for not thinking of that idea sooner, lunged out with her left foot, and cleanly socked him in the jaw. The other two men, who stopped laughing, pulled their guns out and fired upon her. Chell, who evidently is quite used to getting shot at, dodged the bullets with deadly accuracy, she lashed out with a hard knuckled fist and punched the first one, and he fell over and hit the other man in the process. Sadie just stood there, in shock.

"GET IN BACK IN. NOW!" Chell yelled, she was under pressure so she didn't mean yell at Sadie.

She nodded and rushed back in. Then the men got back up!

"GET HER!" they shouted

Chell bolted, scooped up the duffle bag, and up the fire escape, and up to the building's roof, the three men in hot pursuit. She threw the duffle bag at them, it only slowed them down, but they recovered quickly. She looked back unaware that she was running out of roof. She looked up just in time to see the lip of the roof's edge. She screeched to a halt, her long-fall boots making sparks as she skidded, she almost fell, as the roofs lip wasn't very high. The threesome found her at the edge and started advancing towards her, she looked over the edge again. She wasn't sure that she would survive that fall, but then again she did fall over 1400 meters. Then she heard a loud bang, they shot her. She waited for the pain to start, but she only lost balance. She got it now, they shot her shoes! She let go of her portal gun in surprise and tumbled off the edge…

TBC

* * *

**THE FIRST STORY CONTEST IS STILL GOING! All you need to do to win is guess what Chell was playing in chapter 4. Remember: I can only select one of you even though more than one could've got it right, so the first to get it right is the winner.**


	7. Lunatic, Justice Giver Allround Good Guy

Where we last saw Chell and her assailants…

Chell bolted, scooped up the duffle bag, and up the fire escape, and up to the building's roof, the three men in hot pursuit. She threw the duffle bag at them, it only slowed them down, but they recovered quickly. She looked back unaware that she was running out of roof. She looked up just in time to see the lip of the roof's edge. She screeched to a halt, her long-fall boots making sparks as she skidded, she almost fell, as the roofs lip wasn't very high. The threesome found her at the edge and started advancing towards her; she looked over the edge again. She wasn't sure that she would survive that fall, but then again she did fall over 1400 meters. Then she heard a loud bang, they shot her. She waited for the pain to start, but she only lost balance. She got it now, they shot her shoes! She let go of her portal gun in surprise and tumbled off the edge…

And she fell, fell a long way down! Chell looked up and saw the three men who attacked Sadie; she couldn't make out their expressions but she was sure the fact that moon is round that they were pleased with whoever shot her. And she _will _get her revenge!

She landed, hard, long-fall boots suppress the landing enough that she won't die, but it still hurts, and left a crater in the concrete, and everybody outside the building was staring at her. Then abruptly she felt a searing pain through her skull and the crowd gasped. She felt her eyes going into the back of her head; she involuntarily reached for the Portal Device and grabbed it. She passed out…

She woke up, who knows how long after that, in a white room with a large security door.

_Great, _she thought _Déjà vu; again I wake up in a white, stainless, room!_

The room she was in was a hospital room, in the psychiatric wing. Yes, Chell had woken up in an insane asylum, she remembered that she was still holding the Portal Device, they either had been unable to get it loose from her death-grip or, they had thought that she needed it for comfort.

_Either way,_ she thought again, _it was their mistake!_

Chell got off the bed, abruptly dizzy.

_Of course, _she thought once again _I'll get dizzy spells every once-in-a-while because of the impact from the Portal Device. DUH!_

She stabilized herself and aimed a portal outside the barred window.

An intense orange beam shot through the bars and onto the concrete wall outside, she shot a blue portal onto the wall in her room, then she heard footsteps!

Quickly, she put the blue portal on the wall near the door, so whoever is coming won't see it, she hid her Portal Gun underneath the mattress, and she ran to the bed and sat down.

"Hello there, I've brought you your breakfast." Said the nurse, as she walked through the door.

"Thanks." Chell said, first things first, no matter how urgent her escape is, she has to eat.

Her breakfast consisted of, porridge, eggs, grapes, and orange juice. Maybe she should second guess leaving if the food here was so good. No, she has to leave; something inside her is nagging her to leave this place.

"Thanks, you can leave now." Chell said.

"But you haven't finished." The nurse said.

"So?"

"I have to take your tray, just so you can't hurt yourself with it."

"I'm only passing through." Chell said smugly.

"Oh dear, is your cranial injuries that bad?"

"No, no." Chell said, hoping she would misinterpret.

"Okay, when are you leaving?" she asked

"Today."

"Well, enjoy your new hospital then!" she said, as Chell handed her tray over.

So that's the way she interpreted it, she was moving hospital! Chell chuckled at the idea. Then she paused, what if she filed a report? Too bad, she'd have to risk it!

"Good bye." Chell said.

"Good bye." the nurse called back

_Now to get outta this joint!_ Chell thought.

She leaped through the open blue portal and out onto the parking lot, lucky for her, she had been placed right outside the entrance!

She ran to the gate, her feet surprisingly uncomfortable, she'd forgot her long-fall boots. Hoping that they'd be at the foot of her bed, she raced back to the orange portal, and there they were. Right at the foot of her bed, like she hoped.

She strapped them on, and began take two of her escape. She, once again, ran across the parking lot, to the gate, which, of course, was shut, but how can that be a bother when you have a Portal Gun? She shot a portal out onto a nearby building and made her way to the city, whilst everyone else was ignorant of her absence. She made it back to the city and wandered around, looking for the coffee shop, she passed the police station, the library, her motel, when she saw them! There they were just standing there, near the hotel. She wouldn't let them get there, like an animal defending its territory, she ran up and got their attention!

"WHAT? SHE'S ALIVE!" The leader said.

"YEAH, I AM ALIVE, AND YOU WANT ME DEAD!" She said, challenging them.

"YOU BET WE WANT YOU DEAD! AFTER HER!" the leader shouted.

"Its working." she muttered before she bolted back the way she came. She hoped that they were stupid enough to follow her blindly.

She ran down the street towards the police station hoping they would see her go in, which they did, and that was their final mistake.

"Hold it right there, young miss, how did you get out of the psychiatric ward?" the officer said, the same officer that picked her up, what felt like a day or two ago.

"That's for me to know and you to not care about! There are people out there chasing me for revenge off of an attack that I averted!" Chell said

"How do I know that your story is not fabrication?"

"Just believe me!" she said, getting impatient. If her plan was to work, she would have to count on those guys incompetence.

Which paid off. They rushed in without a moment's notice of what they were rushing into. They burst in guns drawn when they saw Chell and police officer standing in front of them.

"Uhh, did we just go and put our foot in it?" one of the men said.

"Yes, Alec, I'm afraid we did!" the leader said very angrily. The officer cuffed them and sent them off to jail.

"Since you have rid this city of a criminal gang, I will fill out the necessary forms for your official release from the psychiatric ward." The officer said.

Chell beamed, she had gotten her revenge and delivered justice, but her revenge was, in fact, delivering justice. If only GLaDOS could see her now! She had gone from being a "Dangerous, mute lunatic" to a person who _can_ speak, that delivered justice. Then she wondered, if she would ever accept her back if she went back…

TBC


	8. It's Party Time!

The next day, Chell woke up in her motel room feeling quite good about herself. She had recently captured the criminal gang, The Exon Raiders, and brought them to justice, and received a large reward in the process. Chell also saved someone from getting all their money taken, or worse. She sighed, why can't she be a normal person, she murdered an omnipotent, all-knowing AI, escaped certain death on numerous occasions, lived from the landing of a fall that was over 1400 meters, fought through this intense battle with bombs, neurotoxin and Wheatley, survived the vacuum of space, and lived to tell about it. Chell always wondered what GLaDOS said all those years ago,"Where did your life go so wrong?". She seriously wondered; if somehow, she never went to Aperture, that she would have lived a normal life. A short, unexciting, empty, boring life. She had to admit, that her life was a lot more action packed this way, also she wouldn't have lived this long. Yes, Chell decided, since her life was so much fun, she wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

"I see you two are enjoying my little mainframe game." GLaDOS said, and "Little" is an understatement, she made a 128+GB game here, she made the engine herself, and all the models, coding, and scripting herself. This was not just a "Little" game.

P-Body squealed in a word that almost sounded like, Uh huh! And ATLAS, well, if he had a mouth he'd be smiling!

"I see, well if it's too much fun for you I can take it off." GLaDOS said

P-Body and ATLAS just panicked and shook their, well, I guess you could classify that as a head.

She chuckled, that was the closest thing to teasing she ever did, maybe some of the cores personalities rubbed off on her somehow. She shook it off as a preposterous thought.

But then again, she may have made the mistake of making the game for them. She had to look into this.

* * *

"Coming up on Earth!" Rick said

"Perfect, this is a spectacular turn of events Rick, Craig!" Wheatley said "I mean, we could've been up there forever."

"Yes you could've, Rick, the adventure sphere, to the rescue, once again!"

Wheatley chuckled "Yes, Rick, the adventure sphere, to the rescue."

Then it just hit him "OH OHHH, I can finally apologize to her! Yes, first thing I do, besides getting out and finding her of course, is go and say sorry!"

Despite Wheatley's abysmal intellect, he did have his bright moments.

The ship landed, and with the help the crew members of a strange device that looked sort of like an early design of a Portal Gun, they all made it back to Earth.

"NOOOOOO, I WANT SPACE! SPACE, SPACE, SP-ACE!" The space core whined.

"Knock it off, mate!" Wheatley scolded

"Space" he said softly.

So, here he was again, back on Earth, he would go and apologize to her immediately. Then, Wheatley was faced with another problem, how would he find her? That problem needed solving ASAP!

* * *

Chell walked to the coffee shop, just going to apply for the job when…

"SURPRISE!" the employees of the coffee shop shouted.

Chell was as white as a sheet after that, she backed up against the door, hand on chest.

"W-what's this for?" she asked

"What do you think, this is our way of both thanking you, and congratulate you!" said the manager "Not only for the job you now have, but for capturing the Exon Raiders! And the thanking is for, well, I'll let Sadie say it."

"I wanted to thank you from saving me yesterday! They were going to take my life savings! And if I didn't cooperate they would've killed me!" she said, "And, if you need any help, I'm in your debt!"

"Thank you, but, I can take care of myself." She said, she wanted to say all that had happened to her throughout her life, but how could she? Who would believe her? Who would believe that she murdered homicidal, omnipotent, all-knowing Artificial Intelligence? Short of a lie detector, no-one would, so she kept her mouth shut, even though it pained her not to tell all. She looked at her longingly, but she didn't want to risk that insane asylum again! She would tell her when the time was right, but right now; it was time to PAR-TAY!

TBC


	9. To Recap and to Tell the Some more!

To recap:

Chell recently got let out of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, and she found herself in a wheat field on a small farm; she got picked up by a police officer who took her to Fort Exon, a city in upper Michigan. The officer took her to a modest motel near the center of the city, and she needed to get a job. So she went to a small coffee shop to apply for a job there. After her interview, she was the witness of an armed robbery, the person they were stealing from was Sadie, and she was supposed to be her mentor for the job. Chell took matters into her own hands and attacked the hooligans, she ran up a fire escape onto the top of a building. One of the robbers shot her long-fall boots so she would lose her balance. The authorities thought she was a crazy lunatic for "Jumping" off the building, so they took her to an insane asylum, to get treated from her concussion and to contain her. Chell escaped, however, and in the process; caught the robbers, who were the current members of the Exon Raiders, and received a reward of $10,000. Meanwhile GLaDOS, frustrated with ATLAS and P-Body's antics, built them a video game to play on Aperture's mainframe computer. And Wheatley was rescued by some part salvagers, and Rick was a friend of theirs. Right now, Chell has the job at the coffee shop, GLaDOS is contemplating the reason for her teasing ATLAS and P-Body, and Wheatley is attempting to find Chell to apologize.

End recap.

Chell walked out of the coffee shop, an uncharacteristically large smile on her face, and waved her last good-byes to the coffee shop employee's until tomorrow. She strolled down the street, whistling cheerfully. She got back to her motel and said hello to the receptionist, who she never really interacted with, and went up the stairs to her room. She looked at it and her smile wavered, it seemed smaller than before. Chell then got an idea, so she went back down the stairs.

"Hello," she said to the receptionist, "Lovely evening isn't it."

"Yes it is." She said, her optimistic tone faint "How can I help you?" her optimistic tone just returned

"I was wondering, could I buy that television and the, y'know, the thing where you play those games on the cartridge with?

"Why do you want it?"

"Because I just noticed that my room was quite small, I need to rent an apartment. And I wanted to keep the game thingy."

"Why, yes, yes you can. Now then, um, that will be twenty dollars for the SNES, fifty for the TV, and two hundred for the room." She said

"That'll be fine." she said handing her the $275, "Thank you, I'll just go get it."

"Good luck." the receptionist said.

"Good luck to you too."

"Now then, um, have you seen a woman, with a wristband on her right arm, cobalt blue eyes, dark brown hair, and a determined look on her face?" Wheatley asked. The man he asked was horrified at the weird ball with the handlebars and the blue, slightly cracked eye.

"Y-yes, she works at t-the coffee shop t-that I go to e-every morning." he said trying to be polite.

"Thank you mister, I 'preciate the help." Wheatley said, and his carrier walked off to the shop in question.

"At last, I'll finally be able to apologize!" Wheatley said excitedly.

TBC


	10. And He Only Wants to Say Sorry!

**THE FIRST STORY CONTEST HAS COME TO A CLOSE! Give a round of applause to Skagui the Sniper, Winner of the first contest with his OC, Lucas [REDACTED]!**

"So that was a large espresso with cream?" Chell said. She had recently got the job as a cashier and coffee machine worker at a local coffee shop. "Would you like a bagel to go with that?"

"No thank you, that's fine." The man who she was serving gave her a once-over "Uh, some weird ball thing with a blue light with a crack down the middle was asking if I saw you yesterday." Chell was surprised to hear that, Wheatley was up in space! How could he have got down? She wasn't sure that she wanted him to find her. The man paid and left. Then she went into the back.

"Excuse me, can I clock off early?" Chell asked the manager.

"Why?"

"Well, someone said that someone would be coming to find me here, I'm not sure I want them to find me at the moment."

"Okay, if it's a matter of life and death, I'll let you clock off early." She said jokingly

"Thanks!" Chell hurried off at a brisk walk, she knew that that moron, Wheatley, wouldn't be far behind.

_*Sadie P.O.V*_

I saw Chell clock off and leave, I said good-bye to her, and she seemed to be in a hurry. I went back to my station and saw that Chell had left her duffle bag behind. I tried to call after her but she was too far away, so I went to take it too her. It was very heavy, but I managed to lug it over to Chell's apartment. She wasn't there, and as I had noticed that she carried the duffle bag with her everywhere, she must think that what's inside is so valuable that she can't leave it behind anywhere. Some may call it crazy, or that she has the Ring of Power in there, I call it obsessive compulsive. I went to the police station for help, they didn't. "A person must be gone for over 48 hours before considered missing." They said, Police these days, they aren't as helpful as you want them to be.

_*normal*_

Chell had an idea; she'd go to the docking bay at the spaceport. She had seen a cargo freighter land there yesterday and must still be unloading cargo. Wheatley must have been picked up from there. She'd go and check it out.

Chell arrived at the docking bay at the spaceport and immediately saw that she was right. There on a sort of mecha suit thing, was that core called Rick!

"Oh, hello gorgeous! I knew that you'd come back to me!" Rick said in his usual suave tone. Chell rolled her eyes and went up to him.

"Where's Wheatley?" Chell asked.

"Who?" Rick said

"Wheatley, personality core, like you only with a blue eye." Chell said, describing him.

"Oh, him, you were fighting him about a week ago! Yeah, I know where he is, well, I know where he's going, he's looking for you. Said something about being sorry. If you ask me, I don't have any idea what he's talking about."

Chell knew though, she had to find him, and fast. She didn't know how long his battery had till it died, and him along with it.

TBC


	11. Hall of Doors, and The Truth

"Can I do anything to help?" Rick asked.

"No, thanks. I'm good."

"Are you sure? I mean, I am very agile in this mech-suit!"

"I'm fine! I do not need anyone's help!" Chell said, a little harshly.

"Okay, okay, don't need to get so snappy, gorgeous!"

"And, err, stop calling me 'gorgeous'!"

"Fine, sweetheart." Rick said. Chell rolled her eyes. Would she ever 'break up' with him? Chell started off down the street, looking for Wheatley.

* * *

Wheatley was wandering aimlessly, well his carrier was but it's the principal of the thing, and they were totally lost.

"I thought you knew where the coffee shop was!" Wheatley said.

"Well, I do. I'm just not familiar with this part of town." His carrier said.

"Well, maybe you should've taken Space's advice and brought a map with ya!"

"He said to take a 'Space map' though!"

"Well, why didn't you interpret it the way I did? And I thought I was the dumb one!"

"I'm not here to argue!"

"THEN WHY ARE YOU ARGUING!"

"BECAUSE I WAS GETTING ANNOYED WITH YOUR CONSTANT DRIBBLING, MOTOR-MOUTH!"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

"NO, I WON'T! YOU'RE JUST BOSSY!"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK AS WELL!"

"IF I HEAR YOUR ANNOYING BRITISH ACCENT ONE MORE TIME…!"

"*in cheesy American accent* Well then if It's no British you want, then it's no British you'll get!"

"Well, that's just insulting!"

"*normal voice* Then, which do you prefer?"

"*sigh* Just talk less, okay?"

"That's much nicer."

Let's just leave those two with their bickering. It's so tedious.

* * *

Chell was running down the path that Rick had pointed to. She'd surly catch them now!

* * *

Meanwhile, Sadie is in hot pursuit with Chell's duffle bag in tow!

* * *

Chell had come to the industrial area now. Totally in the opposite direction from the coffee shop. She wondered if they were as lost as she was. She had to find them. She grabbed some chalk out from her pocket, a little memento from one of the Rat-man dens she visited, and started chalking down the way she went, if she didn't see them, she'd go back, erasing her chalk lines in the process, she thought she could see someone coming in her direction, instinctively she ducked back around the corner._ I'm not in Aperture anymore;_ she told herself _I don't have to do that!_  
She went down the street, suddenly realizing that the figure was gone. She stared down the sunset lit street blankly. She was as sure as anything that she saw a person down there. Cursing herself for her slight paranoia, she walked down the street, chalking her way. A tune played in her mind, not the 'Cara Mia' thing song that GLaDOS' turrets sang for her, but a different happy tune. She remembered it from a game she played on another cartridge based game thing, Sonic the Hedgehog, that's it! The tune was from the labyrinth zone. It was a nice change from 'Cara Mia' so she started humming and whistling. Abruptly, the tune went from labyrinth zone, to boss music. She thought she could hear voices. And rapidly approaching footsteps at the same time, they were getting closer, and closer.. And closer… And closer…. And closer…

* * *

Sadie was walking down to the industrial area, and she thought she could hear humming, a tune that she was not entirely familiar with, she walked in the direction of the humming. And then she started hearing two pairs of voices, it sounded like an argument, she ran towards the humming scared for whoever's life was probably in danger, her mind went back to the day Chell saved her from the Exon Raiders, she was so very grateful, that if she saw someone else's life in danger like that, she would do anything she could to stop it, she thought Chell as a role model. She looked up to her; she earned that job at the coffee shop. Hah, not even that! She'd have earned all the gold bars in Fort Knox if they she was in charge there, and she wished she was, nothing she thought of that was down-to-Earth was worthy of her bravery.

* * *

The footsteps and talking came ever closer, and then she turned around to face her assailant when she saw…

"Sadie? What are you doing here?" Chell said stunned.

"I came to give you your duffle bag!" she said cheerfully

"Well, you scared me half to death in the process!" She said dryly.

"Sorry. I thought you might've been in trouble."

"I might be!" Chell said her muscles tense.

The talking became more audible. And she thought she could hear someone familiar.

"-Know mate, but I was designed to be this way, I can't 'elp it!"

"I thought I told you to be quite!"

"Yeah, but you asked why I was an imbecile!"

"I didn't expect that, alright?"

"Whatever, mate, whatever."

Chell, frowned, Wheatley in an argument was not a pretty thing to be in. He always had some sort of comeback.

"Who're they?"

"Shh."

Their footsteps were now audible, as they had stopped talking, and they came closer. Then, Chell could see them! Her suspicions had been confirmed, Wheatley did get back from space. She was unsure of what he'd say, if he could find the words to say it.

"Ah, someone else and- YOU!" Wheatley said, in surprise.

Chell was silent while he spoke, she wanted to surprise him that she could talk, that she didn't have brain damage, that she might accept his apology.

* * *

"Y'know, I had a lot of time up there to think about what I had done, a lot of time. And time seems to be slower in space, even though, apparently, that time goes quicker in space, fact courtesy of the Space Core, and it's not a pretty place to be in. The radiation was very prickly and it wasn't pleasant, neither was the heat, it travels better in space, once again this fact was courtesy of the Space Core, little guy sure knows a lot about space, anyway, I honestly wish I could take it back, I honestly do, and not because I was in space with another motor-mouth, I was a terrible friend, and a pitiful adversary, I just want to say, I'm sorry, I truly am, I'm but mere dirt on your boots! I don't deserve to be forgiven, but I ask it anyway. So, please forgive me, of all my previous actions, except for helping you escape, of course. I ask again, please forgive me!"

* * *

Chell was moved to tears, by his apology, he sounded so sincere, so sad, so, so sorry. But it didn't help the mood with Sadie just standing there, mouth agape. Chell bent down to his eye level and said…

"I forgive you, my friend. You are a true friend, now that you had apologized, and I do, seriously, forgive you." And with that, she gave him a big hug…

Wheatley was too in the moment to realize what happened. It was after she had hugged her, when it just hit him.

"Y-you _can _talk! You don't have brain damage after all! Ahhhhh this is excellent! I am sooooooo happy that you can talk! Ha ha ha haaaaa! Oohh, yeah this is great! Uh, what's your name? I've hung about you for days and I don't know your name!"

When Wheatley had finished being psyched about the fact that she could talk, when he asked her name, she slapped herself, she was just too confused and focused on the task at hand to tell him anything, and when he went bad, she did the same thing as GLaDOS, didn't want to give him the satisfaction of response. She was like that, she couldn't change it.

"Well, Wheatley, my name is Chell." She told him

"Chell. That is such a beautiful, poetic, lovely name!" What's it short for?"

"Nothing, It would've said on my Aperture Science test subject ID card." She showed him her card.

"Interesting, to say the least."

"Whoa whoa whoa, hey, time out here for a second! This is all beyond me to comprehend. Chell, who are you?"

Chell sighed, the Time, as she called it, had finally presented itself. So she sat down and beckoned Sadie to join her, and she told her the whole story…

TBC


	12. Awakening

"… and that's the whole story." Chell had finished telling Sadie her story, nay, her _life_, Sadie was as stunned as she was when Wheatley apologized!

"I wanna believe it, but I doubt your story for some reason. If there was… proof." She said as she looked down at the duffle bag.

"Go ahead, open it." Chell said.

Sadie opened Chell's duffle bag, and inside, wrapped in part of her jumpsuit, was the Aperture Science Hand-held Portal Device!

"How do I know it really works?" Sadie asked.

"Well, that's how I got out of that Psychi- Psyhic- that insane asylum." Chell stammered, "Plus, see for yourself!"

Chell demonstrated the basic flinging technique, the advanced flinging technique, the how-to-dispose-of-a-turret technique, using Wheatley as an example, the deflect-an-energy-ball-through-portals technique, using a rubber ball and the gravity gun, that Wheatley was being held with, as an example, the use-a-cube-to-open-a-door-to-the-next-room-full-of-turrets-and-disposing-them-with-said-cube technique, the jump-onto-an-aerial-faith-plate-from-up-above-said-testing-element technique, and so on. Sadie, as usual that day, was staring at what was happening with her mouth agape, at one point, Chell offered to give her a try, but she refused, because she might kill herself. Finally Sadie asked if she could have a turn trying it out, she was amazed at how little she felt when she went through the portals, just a small tingle at the back of her hands. Chell, Sadie and Wheatley all walked back to her apartment, all laughing at the jokes they told each other!

* * *

Meanwhile, GLaDOS was looking through the archives of the old Aperture, and saw something of interest.

"Orange, Blue! Come over here this instant!" GLaDOS called.

ATLAS and P-Body got up from the terminal, and walked to the Central AI Chamber.

"I found another vault, full of Cryo-bins! They're not, unfortunately, test subjects; they're employees, instructed to resume work on the ASHPD once awakened. I want you to find it for me!"

ATLAS and P-Body traversed the old Aperture, well, 80's Aperture at the least, and eventually found the second vault.

"Darn, its gesture locked again! Go through your repertoire of gestures; see if any of them work."

They gestured for 17 hours straight when GLaDOS looked at the archives again.

"Wait, I can see a video through the camera! It looks like their holding some sort of data pad, wait, one of them has two screens, and a lot of buttons! Arrgghhh, this is too confusing even for my capacitors! Wait a moment, I found a data pad. I'll send it to you!"

GLaDOS delivered the data pad and P-Body looked at it thoughtfully. She held it up to the camera, and the camera light turned green.

"Ohh, you did it! Now deliver the employees to me!"

They found the switch to turn on the delivery system and then they blew up.

* * *

He woke up in his stasis pod, and his memories were a bit fuzzy. Then he remembered his name, Lucas, his occupation, scientist at Aperture, and his instructions before being put in stasis.

"I have to continue work on the Portal Device… where's a tech lab?"

Then he heard a familiar bleeping sound.

"Hello employees of Aperture, the year is 2534: You are instructed to continue work on the Portal Device. In case you have prolonged memory loss, I am the Genetic Life-form and Disc Operating System, or GLaDOS. An LED directional pathway to a tech lab will be activated shortly."

"I don't remember having an LED director, and everything looks the same for nearly 600 years in the future. Maybe they installed it sometime down the line."

He got out of his stasis pod and walked where the LED arrows were pointing him to. He saw a small tech lab where three other people were working.

"Joseph, Algernon, Katrina, I didn't know you were put in stasis too!"

"Well, we said the same thing to each other! You're a sight for, literally, sore eyes!"

"Pleased to see you again, too." Lucas said, as he reached out to shake their hands.

"Enough chatter down there, let's get some work done!" Cave Johnsons voice came over the PA.

"Those pre-recorded messages sure are useful!" Lucas commented.

"Yeah, why can't GLaDOS just tell us herself though?"

"Maybe she thinks that Cave's voice would be a better substitute for hers. That's my opinion though, maybe others think different."

"Nah, Cave's voice is much more… um… nostalgic." Katrina said.

"Perhaps, well, we'd best get going then." Lucas said, as he bent over a Portal Gun.

TBC

* * *

**A NEW STORY CONTEST!: What Is GLaDOS refering to when she says a data pad has a lot of buttons and two screens.**

**The prize is... um... dunno yet, I don't want another OC in this yet. I'll get back to you on that  
**


	13. Discovery

Chell woke up on a warm Friday morning. Her internal clock was out of wack and she felt like she slept for 3 days. Well rested!

Chell yawned, "I'd better turn Wheatley on now; he could be a greeter for the coffee shop."

She turned Wheatley on and he started his start-up procedure.

"*yawn* Ahh, is it morning now? Well, apparently so, because you're awake." His speech, as usual, was awkward. He somehow managed to get himself into these awkward situations.

"C'mon, bike face*, we're gonna be late for work."

"What? Work? I don't know how to work."

"*sigh* All you need to do, every time someone goes into the coffee shop, you have greet them. Alright?"

"Alright, so that's all I need to do then?"

"Yup. Now come on, let me pick you up."

"Go ahead."

* * *

"Now, suppose I get a can of conversion gel, mount onto a squirter, and put it on the Portal Device, how would that work?" Lucas said.

"Seems legit. Um, it could work."

"And," Katrina added, "We could also do a manual portal fizzler on it."

"Another great idea…" Lucas took a pen and a clipboard, started taking notes.

He worked for three hours drawing up plans, when suddenly…

"I gotta go to the bathroom." Lucas said, and got up from his bench.

"Well, be quick about it. These ASHPDs aren't gonna build themselves, y'know."

He finished and started to go back to the tech lab when he saw a door that was slightly open

"I wonder what's in there…" Lucas said.

He walked over to the door and saw a Stasis Pod.

"Hmmm, that's funny… I don't remember seeing this room before."

He peered over to the glass, stumbled back.

"YIKES!" he yelped

The others heard his startled cry.

"What's the matter?" Algernon asked.

"Look."

Katrina went over, and when she saw what was in the pod, she screamed.

And GLaDOS heard…

TBC

* * *

***Nickname because of the handlebars**

**A/N  
**

**Sorry for the short chapter, I have a good idea for the next one, and I wanted to get this one over quickly  
**


	14. Chell's Common Conundrum

Chell woke up the next day feeling strange. Her nose felt clogged up, she had a sore throat, and she was coughing like crazy.

"What's going-g on-d?" Chell said, her voice sounding strange.

Wheatley woke up when Chell spoke.

"Ahh, good morning, Chell. Lovely day, isn't it?"

"I thig so." Chell said.

"What's wrong? You sound, um, strange."

"I don't know, Wheatley. I woke up-b like this."

"Uhhh, d'you think you should go to work?"

"I have to, to pay the rent of-b this apartm-b-ent."

They went to the Coffee shop, and Sadie knew immediately what was wrong.

"Chell, go home, you have a cold."

"Yes, I do feel cold, but why do I have to go hom-b-e?"

"I'm sure you do, but I didn't say you were cold, I said you have a cold."

"What's a cold?"

"It's when you get an infection in your body; it's very, very common. Hence it's name, the common cold."

"I still don't understand."

Sadie continued, "When you have a cold, your body gets symptoms of the fighting going on inside your body, to get the cold out of your system, your body produces mucous to flush out all the germs and bacteria. It's also very contagious."

"What does contagious m-b-ean?"

"It means other people could catch it."

Chell thought about that, she didn't want other people suffering from this so-called cold.

"And, y'know why you never caught one? You were in the simulated and sterile environment of the enrichment center."

"Oh yeah, I get it. I thig I'll go hom-b-e now."

"So you should!

Chell went home to her apartment, feeling tired, cold and hot at the same time, clogged, and miserable

There she stayed for… *off screen looks at watch* so far, three days, Wheatley looking after her.

"Poor girl, I hate her looking like this. She really is suffering… I hope she lives."

Wheatley was so anxious that, with his fidgeting, he fell off the shelf and next to her long-fall boots, tipped over one, and saw a spider had made its home inside one of them. Wheatley scowled at the spider. It didn't have any right to make its home in Chell's property! He tried to move over to the boot to knock the spider out, when it leaped out of the boot.

"Yikes!" Wheatley yelped, "I hate spiders!" he said as the spider crawled onto him, attempting to bite the poor core.

"AGH! I HATE THIS JOB!" Wheatley screamed.

"WHEATLEY!" he heard a voice come from the door way, he turned his photoreceptor towards the voice.

"Sadie? What're you doing here?"

"I came to give Chell this chicken soup when I heard you screaming at the top of your lungs, or whatever is classified as lungs in robots."

"Okay, first off, it's called a Vocalizer; secondly, what's 'chicken soup'? Is it a kind of miracle medicine?"

"Kind of, chicken soup is… um… well, I don't know why it's good for colds, my mother always gave it to me when I had a cold, but I know for sure it's not a miracle cure."

"Oh, so Chell doesn't need it then?"

"Well, no, I said it's good for colds though, so she might want to. It tastes good though, and I think it unblocks your nose."

"Okay, well could you kill this spider please?"

"Spider?"

"I'll tell ya later. Just get it off me, and remove it from the premises."

Sadie did so and cleared the cobweb from Chell's boot.

"Thanks, Sadie. I don't think long-fall boots are good real estate."

They both had a good laugh at his joke, when they heard the door open.

"Oh, hello. *sniff* Did I miss the party?"

"Chell! You're sounding better!"

"I'm feeling better, too. What's in the bowl?"

"It's chicken soup. I thought you might like some."

The word 'chicken soup' stirred a memory in her mind.

"Chicken soup, huh? Can I have some?"

"It _was_ for you, initially." Sadie said as she put it in the microwave, "What woke you up?"

"Oh, I've been awake for hours! I've been playing Star Fox on my Super Nyn-teen-doh thingy."

"Oh, Super Nintendo Entertainment System? I love those things!

"Ohh, Is _that_ how you pronounce it? Thanks Sadie!"

"No problem," she said as the microwave dinged, "Ahh, its ready!"

"Hey, I can analyze smells. I'm automatically programmed to analyze neurotoxin, but they told me if I ever used it for anything else, I would die!"

Sadie gasped at that remark.

"But, Chell 'ere had made me discover that those were lies to stop me from using those gadgets! So, here it goes!" A small click sounded and then.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'm in heaven…." Wheatley said dreamily.

Chell took a whiff of the air; it had the soothing aroma of smooth chicken soup. She took a spoon and had a sip. A light went off in her head.

"HEY, I REMEMBER THIS STUFF!" Chell exclaimed, taking another sip, "Ohh, my mother made this for me once. But that's all I can remember."

"Same here, except about the 'that's all I can remember' part."

Chell now had new evidence of her childhood, she could remember a meal that her mother prepared for her, which means that she is probably not adopted after all…

TBC


	15. Exodus

Chell got completely well in three days afterwards. She was back working in the coffee shop and, day by day, getting more cheerful, social, and she had received her first tax. That means the government has now acknowledged that she is now an American citizen. Chell was thrilled by this, it felt like an honor. Sadie told her that she'd get these every once in a while, and that she'd have to pay them.

But back at the enrichment center, things were not going so well.

"Oh look, you found Douglas Rattmann. Thank you so much Lucas Fox." GLaDOS' well modulated voice said.

"Uhh, what're you going to do to him?"

"Kill him, of course. He's been a thorn in my side for a long time, he helped that lunatic escape. My party escort robot took her back in."

"You wouldn't!"

"I shall, he's evaded me for too long."

"No, no I won't let you!" Lucas challenged.

"I'm afraid you have no choice." GLaDOS said, as a klaxon sounded.

Then, two telescopic arms lowered from the ceiling, turrets clasped in their claws.

"You have one minute to decide whether you want live, or to die along with Douglas." GLaDOS said, her modulated voice tinted with menace.

Lucas reacted immediately; he lunged for the door, grabbed it, and slammed closed just after the one minute delay on the turrets timed out, bullets firing in vain at the door.

"Oh, why didn't I think of that?" GLaDOS said, angrily, if she had hands, she would've slapped her forehead, "Orange, Blue! Go and try and get that door open! Relaxation vaults don't have hatches for turrets to come out of… wait a minute," GLaDOS thought about it, "they do have air vents though… if I can get the neurotoxin into the room without killing anybody else in the facility, I will be rid of both Douglas, and that new threat, Lucas!"

She diverted some vents to that one relaxation vault, not so easy when you have 55 thousand plus miles of venting to divert. She finally found the relaxation vaults code, and set all neurotoxin vents to divert there, only to find that Lucas all ready clogged the vents up.

"Ohh, I'm not doing well today…" GLaDOS was very frustrated with everything.

Back at the relaxation vault, Lucas went and got a good look at him, his leg had a bullet wound in it, and it never healed or got infected though because he was in cryogenic stasis.

"If I wake him up now, he runs the risk of getting gangrene." Lucas mulled over the situation for a moment, "I have an idea: I'll go to the surface, if I can just get past those turrets…" Lucas spied a pile of books on the shelf, he looked at the door. He could see some dents the bullets made in the door. He grabbed the books and ran over to the door, opened it slightly, and threw the books in the general direction of the turrets. He was the Robin Hood of Turret-bowling-with-books, he knocked them over, whining about their losing their balance, and sending bullets all over the place, hoping to injure or kill their assailant, to no avail. They finally gave up and went into standby mode, until someone bothered to set them upright and turn them back on, telling them that they didn't blame them, that they didn't hate them, or announcing their 'critical error'. Then Lucas made his mad dash to the surface…

TBC


	16. Disbelief

Lucas ran through the facility, going up whenever he could. He brushed past many employees, barged through doors, and jumped across tables trying to get out and get help.

Meanwhile…

"This building's been here too long." Said a demolitions foreman.

"I know, but why are some of the lights still on?" Said a crew member

"I don't know… we might find out soon though."

Just then, Lucas burst out the door.

"Can't talk, emergency!" Lucas said shortly.

"What was that?" asked the crew member.

"I don't know…"

"Are we gonna demolish this building, sir?" he asked

"No, I don't think we are; there might be other people in there."

"Okay, do you know what he might want?"

"Nope, maybe we should ask him."

"He's already down the main road."

"So? We can use the truck!"

"Yes, we could."

Meanwhile…

"Hey Chell?"

"Yes Wheatley?" Chell said getting up from her game of Vortex.

"I think my batteries are running low."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Well, I don't think your apartment has this kind of plug socket."

Then, Chell understood.

"No, I'm not going back Wheatley!" She shot him a glare.

"Yeah, well… you… if you weren't… maybe there's a similar socket for this style of plug." Wheatley said, nervously.

Chell had to smile at his thoughtfulness, "Okay, we'll go to the hardware store, maybe there's an adapter for this plug." She said, getting off the bed.

They took a short walk to the hardware store, it was a small freighter town so everyone pretty much knew everyone else, and Chell was a local celebrity… who worked at a coffee shop?

"Well, howdy there Chell, what can I do for ya?" Said Frank, the owner of Frank's Hardware.

"I came for a plug adapter that looks like this," Chell showed him Wheatley's plug, "Do you have something like that, Frank?"

"Hmm, Danish plug style, by the looks of it. I'll see what I've got, follow me in the back."

They tried a bunch of socket adapters, and none could fit. He even tried an Australian one, because they look similar, but nothing worked.

"Oh, I do hope you can find the plug that fits me! Otherwise I'll run out of power."

"Oh my, I really have my work cut out for me! I'm going to have to make one myself; I'll need to keep Wheatley with me." Wheatley shuddered at the thought.

"But, Chell and I live together!" Wheatley protested.

"Don't worry, it's only for a few days, besides, I won't bite." Frank said.

"Yes, do you actually _want _to die?" Chell added.

"Well, if I must." Wheatley said, defeated, "But, I expect daily visits, and my paycheck!"

"Wheatley, you don't _get _a paycheck." Chell said.

"Oh."

"But you could expect no less!" Chell said brightly, "C'mon Bike-head, it's only a few days!"

"You're right, I'm being a wuss, I shall be brave, and…" Wheatley saw something out the window that intrigued him, "That truck sure is moving fast."

"A truck moving fast?" Chell asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means a truck, moving at like 7000 billion miles per hour, well, actually it was only 85, but it was breaking the speed limit none-the-less!"

Chell didn't like the thought of that.

"C'mon Wheatley, your batteries can wait, you can survive at 1.1 volts you know!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

"I'll take you in my truck. It's just got back from the garage." Frank suggested.

"I have a better idea…" Chell said, drawing her Portal Gun.

"Y'know Chell, you never gave me a chance to look at that." Frank said.

"Some other time, Frank."

"That's what you _always _say." Frank said, feigning disappointment.

Chell just rolled her eyes, grabbed Wheatley and ran off.

"Chell, you do realize that you can't shoot portals while holding something?"

"Oh yeah, oops." She said, "What would you suggest?"

"Well…" Wheatley began, "I think you maybe, probably, perhaps… um… leave me at Frank's." he whispered

"Pardon me?" Chell asked.

"Leave me at Frank's, alright?" Wheatley shouted in defeat.

"Touchy touchy." Chell murmured, as she began her pursuit.

Meanwhile…

"Thank you for picking me up." Lucas said.

"It wasn't a problem, why were you in a condemned building?" asked the demolitions foreman.

"It's because I work and live there."

"You _work_ there?"

"Yeah, I'm a scientist. Can't you tell by my clothes?"

"This guy has some screws loose." Whispered the foreman to the other.

"Yeah, I thought he was crazy when he ran out onto main road."

"Pardon me?" Lucas asked.

"Nothing, nothing." The foreman assured.

"Y'know, I never saw this town before… is it new?" Lucas inquired.

"No, it was built around… ooh um… two hundred-ish years ago, yesterday wasn't it?"

"Yes, the town celebrated its bi-centennial yesterday."

"Wow, I'm _really _behind the times, is the Nintendo 3DS still selling?"

"Yeah, in a way, it's gone into its fourteenth incarnation since this year's E3. You were there, weren't you Mike?"

"Yes I was, Zack! It was one of the best times of my life!"

"Glad to hear it."

"What err… 'company' do you work for?"

"Aperture Science Laboratories." Lucas said.

"This guy's nuts!" Zack whispered to Mike.

"Yeah, I never even heard of 'Aperture Laboratories'."

"I heard that." Lucas said, "Our main competitor is, or was, Black Mesa, I heard something happened to it."

"Black Mesa?" Zack and Mike said together in astonishment.

"Black Mesa isn't dead, if that's what you're thinking! Black Mesa provides the Rock Raider Core, our shipping yards, _any _shipping yard, and several other things I can't name, with tools and such. They even give _us_ tools! Didn't you see the Gravity Gun in the back there?"

"Oh is that what that was, I couldn't tell amongst all the other stuff."

"You sure aren't angry we're haulin' stuff that your main competitor produces."

"Well, what we're making will knock their socks off!" Lucas said, enthusiastically.

"What exactly are you making?" asked Zack.

"A Portal Device."

"Hang on a sec', I think my hearing aid was bit low there, what did you say?"

"I said 'A Portal Device'. It's what we're making" Lucas said patiently.

Then the Zack had to pull over to get over his laughing fit.

"A portal device? Ha-ha ha! That's a hoot! Hee-hee hee! A portal device! Did you hear that Mike?"

Mike nearly wet his pants at what Lucas had said. He was laughing so hard that he was crying.

"What's so funny? It's the truth!" Lucas remarked.

After they got over their fits of laughter they bothered to answer him.

"Listen, buddy, we've given your story the benefit of a doubt thus far, but a portal device? Ha! That's just crazy-talk. Everyone knows that a portal device is only practical in theory, but when attempted to build, it just won't work! You need to make a black hole for it to even be possible generate a portal. Getting that black hole is one thing, making it stable enough for it to actually work is another! So, hate to burst your bubble, but it is not possible."

"But we made a working prototype." Lucas insisted.

"Sorry kiddo, but if you want us to believe ya, you're gonna have to show it to us, _working_!

"Well, I can't help you there, seeing as I don't have one with me. You're gonna have to take me to the hospital for some help sti- Wait! What was that?" Lucas caught something out of the corner of his eye.

"I don't know? What?" Zack asked impatiently.

"There, see that blue splat?"

"Yes…"

"It's an unopened portal!" Lucas exclaimed.

"How do you know when it _does_ open?" Asked Zack as the portal opened.

"Uh, Zack, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that that's how you can tell." Mike said as a figure walked out."

"Finally," she said, "I thought I'd never catch up to you!"

"Uh, Zack?"

"Yeah Mike?"

"I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that we actually _were _mistaken."

TBC


	17. Reentry

Chell was portaling from building to building, but she wasn't gaining any ground with the truck. Then, it abruptly stopped. Chell sighed with relief, because her trigger finger was getting tired. She placed her final pair of portals and walked through them, over to the truck.

"Finally," Chell said, "I thought I'd never catch up to you!"

"Uh, Zack?"

"Yeah Mike?"

"I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that we actually _were _mistaken."

"Who're you?" Chell asked, "And… is that an Aperture Science Lab coat?"

"Why yes, yes it is. My name is Lucas Fox by the way." he said as he was getting out of the truck "I noticed that you're wearing an Aperture Science tank top and jumpsuit as well. What's your name?"

"_She_ sent you, didn't she? She wants me back doesn't she?" Chell exclaimed.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I came for help; there's a man in a stasis pod with a wounded leg!"

"A stasis pod- you mean that bed thing I woke up in the first time I got tested?" Chell asked.

"Yes, if you're a test subject then I suppose it is. You still haven't answered my question though, what's your name?"

"My name is Chell. I don't know my last name, and I don't think Chell is short for anything."

"Okay, I think I saw your name was mentioned in the test subject records."

"Who's the guy with the turret bullet embedded in his leg?" Chell asked.

"How do you know it was a gunshot wound?"

"It's kinda obvious." She said.

"Yeah, I suppose. His name is Douglas Rattmann."

"Douglas Rattmann… sounds familiar…" Chell pondered.

"It does?"

"Yeah… don't know where I saw or heard that name before though."

"You think you can help me?" Lucas asked, meanwhile the demolitions people had left.

"No, I won't go back! I'm _never_ going back!" Chell snapped.

"But I-"

"No 'buts'! I'm not going back, and that's final!"

Defeated, Lucas trudged back down the road.

"But if I go back through the main entrance, I might get killed."

"No, I will not help you! I'm not going back Lucas; you don't know what she did to me! She gave me freedom and I highly doubt that she'll give it to me again!" Chell insisted, her eyes abruptly tearing up, "You're better off not going back as well, but I'm not in charge of your life." Chell turned her back on him, hiding the tears. Memories coming back to haunt her, horrible memories! Turrets shooting, falling, rockets blasting, the smell of neurotoxin, crushers, bombs, toxic goo. She then remembered something, on her computer that she used at the coffee shop, there was an icon on the desktop that looked like a recycle bin, and she wondered if GLaDOS's Caroline section of her brain might be in there.

"Wait!" Chell called after Lucas.

"Huh?" he mumbled, and turned his head to see Chell running up to him.

"I know of a secret entrance/exit." She whispered

"You do? Where?"

"In a wheat field, near where this crabby old farmer lives. He chased me off with a funny looking stick."

"That would probably be a shotgun."

"Oh, good thing I obeyed him then. C'mon, I'll show you!" she said as she ran off.

"Wait, you know what would be a faster way." Lucas gestured with to the Portal Gun that Chell gripped in her hands.

"Oh yeah, you mind if I pick up Wheatley before we go?"

"Okay, who's Wheatley?"

"A friend of mine, we go way back."

"Okay…"

They went back to Frank's hardware to pick up Wheatley, Chell told Lucas to stay outside, and when Chell came out with Wheatley…

"He-he's an Aperture Science Personality Construct!" Lucas exclaimed.

"Yes I am… hey, you're Lucas Fox, oh you were one of the people who created me!"

"Oh yes, Wheatley, I remember now. You were the Intelligence Dampening sphere we created for GLaDOS!"

"Yes, and I don't like my lack of smarts, d'ya think you could make me smarter, or at least less dumb?"

"Alright, sure!" And then they ran towards that farm along the highway.

When they got to the farm gate, Chell hesitated.

"Err; I don't think I wanna go back through there."

"Oh, c'mon! It'll be fine, as long as he doesn't see us."

Sure enough, he sees them…

"Hey! You! I thought I told you, 'no trespassing'! And who's that guy with ya?"

Chell ignored him, hoping he'd go away.

"You speak when you're spoken to, young lady!" The farmer shouted.

Chell shot him a look that potentially could have gotten her killed.

"Am I gonna have to call the police?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Chell shot back, "I think that you're not actually gonna shoot at us. If you are, you're nuts!"

"Well, I…" the farmer seemed puzzled at that question, "Of course I ain't gonna shoot at you." he said as he dropped his shotgun.

"Then, why threaten us with a Swiss-cheesy death?" Chell asked, opting for reasoning for once.

Chell was surprised at her result. The farmer had to get over his laughing fit before he could answer, and one of the buttons on his flannel shirt had popped off.

"Tell ya what, kid: you sure are funny!" the farmer said wiping a tear from his eye, chuckling a little, "You're very calm in the face of danger. Hee hee hee. Calm enough to crack a joke."

"It wasn't a joke! I was serious."

"That may be so, but it was funny nonetheless."

"Well, are you gonna let us pass? We need to go through your wheat field to an electric shed." Lucas told him.

"An electric shed? In my wheat field?" The farmer exclaimed.

"Yeah, Aperture put it there for a backup exit."

"What in the world is 'Aperture'?"

"It's a science laboratory; we're developing a Portal Device."

"A Portal Device? You nuts or what?"

"Uh, no, we have a working model, Chell's got it."

"So, it's a claw that holds metal balls with blue LEDs?"

"I'm not just a metal ball with a blue LED." Wheatley piped up.

"Yikes! Who said that?" he exclaimed.

"I did." Wheatley said shortly.

"Alright, is this some sort of joke? Where's the hidden camera?"

"It's no joke, sir, I really _can _talk."

The farmer just stood there scratching his scalp, with a confused look on his face.

"All right, you can go through the field to the shed, if it's even there."

"Thank you, sir." Chell called as they ran down the gravel path.

Sure enough, the shed was still there. Chell tried to open the door, but she couldn't.

"Arrgh! It's locked!" Chell exclaimed, "I wish we had that gravity gun!"

"We could use a crowbar." Lucas suggested.

"What's that?"

"It's a tool used to pry open things."

"Oh, okay. We could probably use one of those."

"Perhaps the farmer has one. I'll go ask."

"Good luck, Lucas!" Chell called after him

Lucas, later, returned with a crowbar.

"Let's see if I can pry it open." Lucas said, "*grunt* There!"

The door opened and there was a straight drop to nowhere.

"Looks like I'm going first. Here goes noth-IIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGG!" Chell screamed as she plummeted to her potential doom.

They say that, it's not the fall that kills you, its sudden stop. In this case, it's probably what happens after the fall…

TBC


	18. Plan of Attack

Chell landed on the solid metal floor, almost seventy-five thousand meters down. Oops, make that sixty-nine thousand nine-hundred ninty-seven meters, because she actually landed on the elevator.

"Aw man, I wish I had that crowbar! Then I could get the elevator working and get Lucas up here."

"That's a good idea- idea- dea – ea…" Chell heard a voice echo from somewhere, and then abruptly, the crowbar fell on the floor with a load clang.

"Hey! Did you hear me from up there?" Chell shouted.

"Yes I did- did- id –id…" Lucas's echoed voice came down from the shed's entry, "I heard you clear as a bell- bell- ell… Aside from the echoing- echoing oing- ing…"

"Well, I'll pry the elevator roof open, and send it up! Sound good?"

"Sounds good to me- me- e…"

Chell whacked a hole in the roof and pried it open. She landed inside the elevator and sent it up to the shed door. Upon arrival Chell saw Wheatley and Lucas playing Tic-Tac-Toe.

"I WIN!" Lucas shouted in victory, "Oh, hey Chell! You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Chell said, feeling a little anxious.

"Alright then, let's go!" Lucas announced, picking up Wheatley and entering the elevator.

"Next stop, floor minus two-hundred-fifty-billion: Potential death, wounded legs, and scientists."

Chell just gave Lucas a blank look from that remark. She pressed the down button on the elevator and descended into Aperture…

Chell realized that she fell asleep on the way down. She also realized that Lucas and Wheatley weren't with her.

"Lucas? Wheatley?" Chell called, there was no answer.

She tried again, "LUCAS? WHEATLEY?" now she was getting worried.

"LUCAS! WHEATLEY!" Chell all but screamed out for them.

Chell slumped down into a crouching/sitting position hybrid, tears forming in her eyes.

"Where did you go…?" Her voice quavered.

"Well, I, for one, am right here!" Wheatley piped up; he was riding a management rail.

"Oh thank goodness, you're all right!" Chell exclaimed, reaching over to hug him, "Where's Lucas?"

"He went ahead, to survey the area. He said he'd be back in an hour."

"Oh, that's a relief!" Chell got a little calmer then.

"Only he's been gone for ninety minutes." Wheatley added.

"WHAT?" Chell got up to Wheatley's eye level.

"Well, um, it's only thirty minutes past an hour, so we shouldn't panic yet."

"True…maybe it's nothing…" Chell said, still a little unsure.

"Cheer up, at least we don't have to pay for that special socket adapter anymore, I'm already fully charged!"

"I was willing to pay, Bike-head!"

"Okay, um, that sounded like you weren't playing there."

"I wasn't, I'm stressed."

"Okay, if you're going to use it as an insult, I don't think I like that nickname anymore."

"Grr, Wheatley, I'm on edge! I had a good cry about it, now that's done I'm starting to feel the pressure!" Chell said, pacing the floor.

"Oh my, I didn't realize! I'm sorry."

Chell stopped pacing, and smiled at him.

"It's not your fault, Wheatley. It's mine; I never should have agreed to go."

"No. It's no-one's fault! You're doing the right thing by doing this!"

"Wheatley! Did you come up with that yourself?"

"Err, yes! Oh my! I reckon that while I was on standby, Lucas fiddled with my circuits! I actually now _feel_ smarter! I like it!"

"Wait! How do we know that _she_ doesn't know we're here?"

That question caught Chell off guard.

"I…do not know." She said hesitantly.

"Well, I see no security cameras around… But there may be microphones."

"No, there should only be speakers."

"Hey, guys! Boy, that lunch rush sure lasted a long time." Lucas walked into the alley carrying a couple of trays.

"You mean you've been gone for an hour and thirty minutes just because there was a long line at the cafeteria?" Chell exclaimed.

"Err, yes. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." Lucas said, blushing.

"Well, at least I know you're okay! What was the reason for us sneaking back in here again?"

"We need to disable GLaDOS long enough for medical crews to get here and help Douglas."

"That's what I told 'er! Only she was asleep." Wheatley interjected.

"Why don't we just get her Caroline personality out from her recycle bin, and make her nice again?" Chell suggested.

"I don't remember her ever being nice…" Lucas said.

"Well, it only took a massive blow to her ego and a lack of power, both figuratively and literally, to make it, sorry, _her_, show."

"We could always perform another core transplant and I could stuff her into a potato again." Wheatley suggested.

"I don't think we need to go to such dire lengths again, Wheatley."

"You know, I never got to be a stalemate associate." Lucas said, "Anyway, I never saw her as an actual operating system, as in, desktop and icons."

"Well, her name has Disk Operating System in it, so we could give it a try."

"That's true; I just don't know what our plan of attack is."

"Launch a virus, maybe." Wheatley suggested.

"A virus… What kind?"

"I dunno, you're the techie guy. You helped build me!"

"Hmm, maybe an eMail from the president, to disguise the virus in it." Chell suggested.

"Why would the president want to send an eMail with an attached virus to it! And how are we- oohhh! I got it."

"Yes, we just need the president's eMail address."

"We could make a fake one."

"Yes, but what service provider does he use? Or what client?"

"I don't think he uses Gmail."

"Of course not!"

"We'll just have to make it up, who's the current president?"

"How should I know, I've only been in the real world of about a month!"

"Uhh… okay, scratch the president idea; how 'bout Cave Johnson?" Lucas suggested.

"That's an idea, I don't know if it's a good one, but it's an idea nonetheless. Maybe there's still a little bit of Caroline still in her that makes her obey Cave Johnson without question!"

"Okay, that's our strategy! We shall launch a crippling virus, sent via eMail, into GLaDOS, that doesn't completely destroy her system, using Cave's eMail address! Sounds good to me!" Lucas summed up.

"Only problem: we somehow need to get to Cave Johnson's office." Chell pointed out.

"Don't worry! We could always go there through the maintenance areas, and I have a level 23 ID card that lets me access Cave's office!"

"Great! Do you think GLaDOS is preoccupied enough to notice us?"

"Chell, that's something that we're just going to have to gamble on."

TBC


	19. Deep in the Heart of Aperture

They made it to a maintenance hatchway; about three doors down from the Central AI Chamber, a little too close for Chell's liking.

"Are you sure that this is the best way?" Chell cautioned.

"Positive." Lucas said, shortly.

"Well, wouldn't it be better for us to make sure we don't get caught and go the long way, or risk getting our lungs pumped with neurotoxin and go the quicker way?"

"You're smart Chell, I'll give you that. But these hallways have been specially designed for a quick getaway from a berserk GLaDOS. Trust me, I know…"

/

_Back in the 1989 I was witnessing the first incarnation of the Genetic Life-form and Disk Operating System_.

_It was a glorious moment, because we spent over fifteen years working on her._

_I was in charge of hooking up the power to the main body, quite hairy work when you're scared of heights, like I am._

_I put all of the cables in their correct positions, and I hand waved a signal to the 'Man in front of The Switch', as I called him, to throw the switch to turn on the power, and I quickly got off the hexa-scaffolding._

_But something went wrong, after a fanfare of Still Alive, our company's anthem, GLaDOS went berserk, and started frying us with lasers, sending us up in the air with her telekinetic beams, and pumping the room full of neurotoxin. I instructed a test subject, after we made a makeshift power outage, to go get the Morality module._

_She managed to get it attached to GLaDOS just as the reserve power came on. But she was thrown against a bunch of bins._

_Her name was Abby; she was our best test subject back then. She was nearly killed when she was thrown against the bins. Katrina helped get her out of the building. She collapsed of fatigue on the parking lot asphalt, in the pouring rain!_

_We got her back in, after things got under control; we nursed her back to health. As far as I'm concerned she's still in stasis, in Deep Storage._

/

"You see, Chell; I used this very hallway to help Katrina get Abby out. It was a very quick exit! A very quick exit indeed!"

"I see. So she can't touch us from here?"

"As long as her rocket turret isn't in a different position, no. But she wouldn't be able to move anyway. We made sure that it wouldn't be attached to any of the floor with the pneumatic panels."

Chell didn't speak for a few minutes; she seemed to be thinking about what he had said.

"Alright, we'll go this way. But I'm still uneasy about being in this close proximity to GLaDOS."

"Great! The way to the maintenance areas is-"

"-This way!" Chell interrupted, she did go this way before, after all.

"Alright, this way." Lucas muttered.

Chell knew exactly where she was going. She made sure that Lucas could get to her using portals; she didn't need use them because she could take flying leaps onto the ground without hurting or killing herself.

"Hey! Can we swap Boots for Portal Guns?" Lucas asked at one point.

"Not a chance! You should've prepared yourself!" Chell countered.

"All right, fine!"

"Okay, I think we've gone far enough! I now need to take over."

Chell raised an eyebrow at that, "Do you need the Portal Gun?

"I think so…"

Without a word, Chell handed him her Portal Gun, and Lucas lead the way.

"Hey, I've been here before!"

Chell looked around the familiar broken pipes and exposed electrical parts down to a pit of ash.

"Yes, I've definitely been here before! This is how I escaped."

Lucas stared expressionlessly at the pit full of ash.

"Many test subjects had died there. They were mostly prisoners who where on death roll anyway, but I still thought it was heartless!" Lucas thought back.

"Really?! I had no idea! I thought that was just for me!"

"No, Chell. They were for many, many test subjects! When we become in charge I'll be sure to turn that room into an actual post-test party room!"

"Wait, you're planning on being in charge of the facility?!"

Lucas blinked; he just heard what he said.

"Well, um…"

"You're actually planning to over through an omnipotent AI?!"

"I uhh…"

"That was my plan too!"

"Oh, okay then! Shall we continue on?"

Chell nodded. Lucas fired the Portal Gun over on the wall of the platform overlooking the fire pit. He then fired a portal over on a wall near the catwalk. They stepped through and Lucas got out his keycard. He swiped it on the keycard slot on the door, and it opened.

"I was trying to get that door opened when I came here first." Chell commented.

Lucas didn't answer, Chell just followed him silently. They hid from employees, and security cameras, hoping that GLaDOS had no idea that they were back.

Fortunately for them, GLaDOS had other problems on her mind…

-%-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! What's happening to me?!" GLaDOS screamed.

GLaDOS was very troubled. All her past core's personalities had re-emerged all at once. Her brain was going into overload, there was no choice: She had to go into an emergency reboot.

"Emergency reboot: in 3… 2… 1-" GLaDOS Shut down, and the facility seemed to quake after that.

-%-

Chell and Lucas felt the quake that GLaDOS made when she rebooted herself.

"What was that?!" Chell asked.

"My guess is: that she just went into an emergency reboot…"

"And the whole facility quaked because of that?"

"Well, not the whole facility…"

"You mean the old old old Aperture?"

Lucas was surprised to hear her say that.

"W-why yes, Chell, I did mean that! How did you know?"

"Experience." Chell said, shortly.

"Oh, you were down there?"

"Yeah, after Wheatley punched me into an elevator pit." Wheatley was uncharacteristically quiet for the duration of the journey, but the mention of that…

"You _had_ to bring that up." Wheatley muttered.

Chell shot him a blank look, Wheatley rolled his eye, and Lucas looked behind him, turned white, and his walking pace quickened into a run.

Chell wondered what happened to make him look so afraid, when she and Wheatley looked behind them, they soon found out why…

TBC


	20. Chased!

"RUN FOR IT, CHELL! IT'S AN ASH-SAM! AN ASH-SAM!" Lucas shouted.

Chell didn't even to be told; she faced an Aperture Science Heavy-duty Super Attack Mecha before.

"RUN WHEATLEY!" Chell yelled, but Wheatley was already beside Lucas.

Chell decided that she'd just let her long-fall boots to do the running, she reached down on the side her boots and flipped two switches. The settings that were on the switches were, Protect, Run, and Run/Protect, she set them to Run/Protect. The boots then felt different… Think of a car switching from Normal mode to Sport mode, only on your feet. Chell immediately felt the difference, and took advantage of it. Then she heard on the comm-link speakers, GLaDOS's voice.

"You can run, but you can't hide! This Aperture Science Heavy-duty Super Attack Mecha is programmed to pursue and capture. Oh, hello again _Chell_! Bet you didn't know I knew you were here, or what your name was."

Chell didn't say anything.

"That emergency reboot went faster than I remembered." Lucas remarked.

"This isn't 1989 anymore, Fox. Things have changed; you were in suspension for a long time!" GLaDOS said, "Give yourselves up now, and I'll save you the trouble of escaping the A-S-H-S-A-M."

"We won't have any trouble getting away from it won't we, Chell?" Lucas asked.

Chell nodded, And Lucas led the way through the labyrinth-like maintenance areas of the Enrichment Center, and as soon as they were out of earshot of the comm-link, Lucas asked…

"Why didn't you say anything back there?"

"I want GLaDOS to be wrong with something, for once."

"Pardon me?!"

"She called me a dangerous, mute lunatic. I want her to be wrong with something!"

"Oh, you're gonna tell her that you're not mute?"

"You know? You're very conversational, even when we're GETTING CHASED BY AN UNCHAINED MAD MACHINE, THAT'S TRYING TO CAPTURE US!"

"Oh yeah. RUN FOR IT!"

"Glad you showed some-" Chell was cut off in midsentence, when the ASH-SAM started firing its laser cannon.

Lucas abruptly took a sharp left, through a passage way that was way too small for the ASH-SAM to fit through.

"We were going this way anyway." Lucas commented, "Well you've got what you asked for, GLaDOS obviously didn't count on-" Lucas was cut off in midsentence when…

"Who's there? I see you! Activated. Preparing to dispense product. Target acquired."

"Okay, let's not go that way!" Lucas said.

"She's luring us into the parking lot! That's where I last destroyed one. Well, not that very parking lot, but a parking lot nonetheless!"

"I see, but if GLaDOS learned her mistakes from last time…"

"… She might have another one waiting for us in there! What are we gonna do, Lucas?"

"I have an idea, it's a crazy one, but it's an idea. You do know why they're called 'mechas', right?"

"No. I don't even know what mecha means."

"Mecha is a Japanese abbreviation of 'mechanical' and mecha, or mechs, means that generally they can be piloted. These are no different! See where I'm getting at?" Chell nodded, "Yes, only the hatch to the cockpit is on top. So we have to go above it."

Chell gestured her Portal Gun to the ASH-SAM.

"I have a more discrete way…" Lucas gestured to the air ducts.

-=A little later=-

"Let's just hope she didn't start pumping neurotoxin!" Chell commented.

"She can't, not out here!"

"Think she took this into account.

"Oh, I think she did. She just can't do anything about it, and I guess she just hoped we wouldn't escape this way, although, we're not escaping. We're about to commandeer a mech!"

"I think that's just too dangerous and idiotic to take into account, she must not think that we're, sorry, I'm that crazy!"

"Hey, I'm a little bit on the odd side too!" Lucas joked.

"Heh, I guess."

"It's almost under us! You ready?"

"Yeah! I hope Wheatley got in okay."

"He should have. Here it comes, get ready… NOW!"

Chell kicked the air duct a few times and the segment fell off. They jumped onto the mech, and sure enough, there was another waiting for them!

"Let's get inside, quick!

They got inside, and Lucas keyed the manual override.

"Gah! The manual override is password locked!"

"WHEATLEY! ARE YOU OUT THERE?" Chell shouted.

"YES!" he replied, "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"DO YOU HAVE THE PASSWORD FOR THE MANUAL OVERRIDE FOR THIS MECH?"

"I'LL HAVE TO CHECK…" Wheatley was silent for a few minutes, "GOT IT. 5552371!"

"5552371… I heard that somewhere before…" Lucas thought as he keyed the password in, "We're in! Opening window…heads-up display on…auto pilot off…manual weapons on… Alright, other mech, prepare for the junk yard!"

Lucas fired a high-energy pellet, and it hit the other mech square in the chest. The other mech retorted and shot back.

"Hey! I've played some video games back home, and I can tell that you're doing it wrong! Lemme take over."

Lucas shifted and made room for Chell in the pilot's seat. Chell grabbed the yoke, and was immediately 'In the zone'! She managed to dodge the other's fire, and sent pellets back at it.

"One more shot…" Chell said.

She was right; the last shot hit the other mech and destroyed it!

"Run!"

"What?!"

"I SAID RUUUUUN!"

Lucas opened the emergency hatch, and sprinted towards the open garage door, out back where the mech came through.

"TAKE COVER!" Chell shouted!

"With what?!"

"GAH! ANYTHING!"

Chell and Lucas hid behind some crates, and the mech that Chell destroyed blew up, but not before GLaDOS sent a message through its speaker.

"DORRGGHHRR! I HATE YOU!"

"She's mad again, that means all of her personality cores must've reactivated." Lucas reported.

"How did you know that her cores were destroyed?" Chell asked.

"I heard that she wasn't angry when she saw me escape. And her voice was also well modulated, like a computer should have, with no emotion. So that emergency reboot she initiated was probably because that all her cores reactivated at once." Lucas explained.

"Ohh, I get it!"

"You know, despite not being a full time employee, you sure are smart. You should be a scientist."

"GLaDOS said the exact opposite when I confronted her the first time." Chell brightened, "I guess I did get what I wanted, but I want to see her face when I…"

"See her again?"

"No… It's more than that…"

"What is it?"

"I…don't want to tell you."

"Why not? We're all friends here." Wheatley put in.

"It's to demoralizing…. It's best if you don't know yet."

"Oh! I think I know!" Wheatley said.

"Whisper it in my ear." Chell told him

"Are you going to marry Lucas?" he whispered.

"NO! No I'm not going to do that!"

"What? What did he say?"

Chell blushed, "Err, um… He was wrong about it."

"Oh, then it's not a problem if you tell me."

"Err, I'd prefer not to."

"All right then. Shall we continue?" Lucas said, gesturing to the alcove that they attempted going through earlier.

"Um, in case you've forgotten, there's turret's down there!" Wheatley reminded him.

"No, I haven't forgotten. In case you've forgotten, we're not being chased by an ASH-SAM anymore."

"So? What's your point?" Wheatley asked.

"We have a lot more time on our hands now! Chell, kindly dispose of those turrets, if you please?"

"Certainly." Chell answered.

Chell went through the use-a-cube-to-open-a-door-to-the-next-room-full-of-turrets-and-disposing-them-with-said-cube technique minus the opening of the door and using a crate instead of a weighted cube, and after all the shooting-in-vain, they pressed on to Caves office.

TBC

* * *

**Author's notes:**

**I'm sorry if some of you think this chapter is unfinished. To be quite honest, I couldn't decide weather it was or not myself :P so, once again I'm sorry if it seems unfinished.  
**


	21. Launch Time

"Now, the activation switch for secret entrance to Cave's office is around here somewhere…" Lucas was probing around a large metal wall, looking for a key-card slot.

"Are you sure it's on this wall?" Chell asked, leaning against the wall where the card slot was actually located, fully aware of the fact.

"Positive." He replied.

"I bet you ten bucks that I can find it for you."

"Whateve-"

"Found it." Chell interrupted.

"What?! You found it?!"

"Yes, it's on _this _wall." Chell pointed at the key-card slot.

"Oh, ye-yes it is." Lucas stammered.

Hey swiped the card through the slot, and the wall opened up.

"We're in!" Lucas announced.

Wheatley's management rail couldn't go any further, so Chell had to pick him up with the Portal Gun. They stepped through to a nicely furnished room, with a desk to one side, with a suspiciously modern-looking laptop on it.

"This has Windows 7 on it!" Lucas announced.

"So it does… Why do you think that is?"

"Because, you two, I use it." Said a voice that sounded like a less computerized version of GLaDOS.

Chell and Lucas turned around, and gasped.

"You're…you're Caroline!"

TBC… Nope, just kidding!

"Yes, I am, indeed, Caroline." She confirmed.

"But you're… you're still… It's over five… What are you doing here?!" Lucas was flabbergasted, shocked, and bewildered.

"You're wondering how I'm still alive, right?" She asked, putting her left hand on her hip.

"Yes, we are!" Chell put in before Lucas could speak.

"How are you still alive, Chell?"

"How… how do you know my name?"

"Because I knew your parents before they died."

"What happened to them?" Chell asked.

"They were on their way to visit you, the road was icy, and it was a very dark night. They changed lanes and a truck pulled from a turn into their lane. They swerved to prevent hitting the truck, but the road was so slippery that when they swerved, they lost control and crashed through the bar that was next to the edge of the road, and the car fell. They were in hospital for three days before they died. You were seventeen when that happened."

"Then you know my last name!"

"I do, indeed."

"Could you tell me it?"

"I'm afraid not, Chell. Since that happened, they were ordered to wipe your memory of certain things, including your last name! So your parent's death forwarded the cause of science, as they put it. I didn't want them to but I had no choice in the matter. I am under strict orders not to tell you anything about your past."

"But you're not under their, whoever they are, command anymore, they're long dead!"

"I'm afraid they aren't, Chell. Personality cores cannot die."

"WHAT?! Mere robots are controlling your decisions?!"

"Isn't that what GLaDOS is doing?" A flash of anger seemed to go over Caroline's face when she mentioned GLaDOS.

"I suppose… I noticed that you're not too fond of GLaDOS."

"That was one of your strong points, reading faces. I'm glad they didn't erase that quality of you. And yes, I don't really like GLaDOS. She's just a cheap, aggressive, and dangerous copy of me!"

"That's an interesting way of putting it." Lucas commented.

"Yes it is. I never thought of it that way when I was getting tested."

"Wait! _You were tested_?!"

"Yeah, I was. That's how I defeated GLaDOS. And here we are today."

"I specially made sure you _weren't_ tested!"

"What?! I was tested so whatever you did didn't work."

"I made sure that when you were next in line those chambers had gotten the green-light for the Portal Device, and you were supposed to have different, previously untested chambers. Let me check the records…" Caroline entered something into her computer, "Oh my goodness!"

"What is it?" Chell asked.

"The records say you're number one on the list! I made it so you were number fourteen-hundred ninety-eight on the list!"

"Then if you made it so I was 1498… then who made me number 1?"

"I don't know, Chell, but I'm sorry they did. Those tests were too dangerous."

"Yes, Lucas told me that many other people, mostly condemned prisoners, died in that fire pit at the end."

"Yes, they were tested before, and that fire pit was exclusively for the prisoners. I didn't like it, but they said, 'they were gonna die anyway!' How heartless is that?!"

"Yes, very heartless. You still didn't explain why you were still alive."

"And my answer is the same: How are you still alive?"

"I was… Put in cryo-sleep!" Chell answered, understanding.

"Yes, so was I and Cave was supposed to go with me. But he died before we could put him in. I miss him so much. He even had a speech prepared for the time when they wake him up." Caroline walked over to a tape recorder and put a tape in it. The message Cave sent was:

"Greetings, men of the future! I'm Cave Johnson. I have been put in cryogenic suspension with my assistant Caroline. Now, if you can cure lunar dust poisoning that would be greatly appreciated. *Cough! Cough!* I am thrilled to be here!"

"That's his speech. Pretty informative isn't it?"

"Yes, very straight to the point."

"Oh, Caroline, we didn't explain why we're here yet. We're here to launch a crippling virus into GLaDOS so we can go in and take care of her without any danger."

"How do you expect to do that?"

"Send an eMail with the virus as an attachment, with Cave Johnson's eMail."

"That's a great idea! Except for one problem."

"What is it?" Chell asked

"Cave doesn't have an eMail address. He would've, but he died before eMail was common knowledge. I have an eMail address. It's not Cave Johnson's but I could sign it with his name, and signature!"

"It will have to do! We can't do anything until GLaDOS is unable to do anything."

"Right, I'll just use a photocopier to scan his signature, save it as a .png, embed the image, and write the eMail. What do you want me to type?"

"GLaDOS, this zip file contains important documents I need you to look through, and then I want you to send them to the lab boys. Cave Johnson. I'll just make the virus."

Lucas spent a little under half-an-hour making the virus, it nearly launched itself, but Lucas made sure that it would target specific things that only GLaDOS would have.

"Alright, it's ready! I'll get it compressed inside the zip file. And attach it to the eMail and, Caroline would you like to do the honors?"

"It would be my pleasure."

"That sounded a little bit… wrong…" Chell remarked.

Caroline chuckled, and clicked the send button on the eMail.

TBC… for real this time!


	22. Climax

"Well, the eMail's been sent, the virus attached, and me found out about. What's next?" Caroline said.

"We wait." Lucas said.

Fifteen minutes past…

"Waiting's boring!" Chell announced.

"Yes, Shouldn't have GLaDOS received the eMail by now?"

As a matter of fact, she just did

"An eMail sent from Mr Johnson? He's dead though… I'll have to open it." GLaDOS said.

The eMail said

GLaDOS:

This zip file I've attached contains important documents.

I want you to open them and read them.

Then send them to the lab boys so they can use them

Cave Johnson.

"I must open it." GLaDOS enunciated.

She opened it, and then Lucas's deadly virus attacked!

"GAHGGGHHHAaaAaaAAAaAaAA! Jibidipubijiba! Aewweweaeowowoowaaeeoo! Ghaa…" at this point the pitch in her voice is rising, "...aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA….."

The whole facility quaked after that, and the lights flickered.

"Okay, we're making our move!" Lucas took the charge to her chamber.

"I'll come with you!" Caroline announced.

They ran back through the secret wall and through the maintenance areas back to the hall way to the Central AI Chamber.

"Alright, this is where the fun begins! Chell you know what to do, get Caroline out of her recycle bin!"

Chell nodded, glanced at Caroline and sprinted down the hall.

"Oh… it's you! Just couldn't stay away, hmm? I told you not to come back, and I would take care of you now if you didn't give me this virus!" GLaDOS said.

_First contact since… I dunno when._ Chell thought. She walked to a terminal that was where the red phone with the cut line was, opened GLaDOS version 3.7.2 external user.

"What are you doing?" GLaDOS asked in surprize.

Chell shot her an evil grin.

"No! If you're doing what I think you're doing, I wouldn't recommend doing it!" GLaDOS told her.

Chell shot her another look, one with her eyes half closed with a smug grin.

"You wouldn't!"

The next look Chell gave her was an "I would!" look.

"No."

Chell nodded her head slowly, yes.

"NO!"

Chell nodded vigorously.

"NONONONONONONONONO!"

Chell mouthed Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesy es. She chuckled and opened the recycle bin. She then opened persona .ini, the list of all the core's personalities, she put Caroline's side of GLaDOS, Crlyn .dll, and put at the top of the list. Then she put the uploaded Morality Core file second to the top, Conscience .dll, pressed save, and initiated a full reboot of GLaDOS…

* * *

When GLaDOS came to, she didn't feel like herself.

"What happened? My voice, is that my voice?! I didn't sound like this since… NO!"

"Yes!" Lucas said.

"She didn't just… That mute lunatic just made me… *static* like Caroline…"

"She did indeed." A very familiar voice announced.

"Who said that?! Did I say that?! What is going here?!"

"No I said it." A woman stepped into GLaDOS's field of view.

"I know you! You're, in a sense, me!"

"Yes, that's right. Chell here did all this."

"I know that, Caroline." GLaDOS said, defeated, "Why didn't I remember I had a recycle bin?"

"Because you were under the influence of a previous version of me!" Another familiar voice piped up.

"Oh you! I left you to die in space!"

"Well your plan, apparently, didn't work!"

"Yes indeed." GLaDOS said menacingly.

"I'm not afraid of you! Not anymore!" Wheatley announced, "Lucas, one of my creators, made me smart."

"You! You're the one who escaped when you found Douglas Rattmann!"

"Yup, I found Chell and persuaded her to come with me to help you. Paramedics are on their way to pick him up."

"Are they indeed? They shan't get him out." GLaDOS said.

"Oh, but they will. You're still under the influence of that virus, so you can't do a thing about it."

"So you created it!"

"Yes, I did!"

"You've interrogated all but me!" A new, unfamiliar voice said.

GLaDOS spun around to face the voice, but it wasn't there.

"Go ahead, you know who I am!" The voice said, on the other side of GLaDOS.

She spun around again, still not finding the source of the voice.

"Who is this? Is this Katrina?"

"No, not Katrina." The voice said, only above her this time.

"WILL WHOEVER IS TALKING PLEASE SHOW THEMSELVES!?" GLaDOS yelled.

Everyone stood in front of GLaDOS. And one figure walked up to face her.

"Yes… it's me." Chell whispered, "Oh what do you know, the dangerous mute lunatic isn't actually mute at all!" Chell taunted.

"You're enjoying every minute of this, aren't you?" GLaDOS asked.

"You bet! I would also enjoy it if everyone else left for a while."

Lucas, Caroline, and Wheatley all left, leaving Chell and GLaDOS alone…

To be continued


	23. Humility

"Alright, Chell, what is it you want?" GLaDOS asked in a less than caring, sarcastic tone.

"You and I had our differences in the past…"

"That is true… What are you getting at?" GLaDOS interrupted.

"Let me continue

"To be frank I don't want to hear it…" GLaDOS mumbled.

Chell either didn't hear, or didn't care, as she continued

"So, I thought that… Well… You know when you started those tests on me?"

"Of course, how can I forget?"

"Well, we barely understand each other now, let alone back then! But… You know why I 'killed' you?" Chell did the hand quote gesture around killed.

"No… Why? Because you are a heartless lunatic?"

"No, it's because you put through me those tests for nothing but death!" Chell explained, "It's especially not fair for me because, I have a major sweet tooth, so cake was one of the best incentives for me!"

"That fire pit was for test subjects." GLaDOS countered.

"That fire pit was, and is, for convicts on death-roll!" Chell shot back

"Not true." GLaDOS said flatly.

"Ask Caroline…" Chell shot back.

"No! Anyone but her!"

"Ask Lucas then." Chell shrugged, "Ask anyone! I'll bet everyone knows that that was what the fire pit was actually for!"

"How are you talking?"

Chell shot her one of the most, are you really that stupid looks anyone had ever given anyone.

"I'm talking because I can!" Chell shouted, "You just assumed I was mute because I never talked! I never talked because I didn't want to give you" Chell jabbed her finger at GLaDOS's photoreceptor, "the satisfaction of response!

"I love that satisfaction." GLaDOS commented.

Chell went silent again.

"Oh no, don't you go and start doing that again!" GLaDOS snapped.

Chell turned her head towards her and shot her another look.

"Fine, be that way!" GLaDOS said.

Chell snickered, which turned into a stifled exhale of air, which turned into a chuckle, which turned into a hearty laugh.

"What, may I ask, is so funny?" GLaDOS asked.

Chell had trouble telling her between laughing fits.

"Y- You!" She finally managed, "You're so funny." She said after she'd finished.

"I fail to see the humor in my speech." GLaDOS replied.

"You're automatically funny, GLaDOS." Chell explained, "Some of your speech was funny before I talked to you."

"It's the Amusement Core's fault!" GLaDOS said.

"That may be so, but you're also funny when you don't mean it."

GLaDOS had no comment to that.

"So anyway, I came to… I came to… I… I just want to say… *ahem* Uh… I- I'm sorry. Sorry for killing you, sorry for giving you a hard time, sorry for initiating a core transfer, sorry for letting Wheatley stuff you in a potato, sorry for letting that bird peck you, sorry for letting you read those paradoxes and nearly killing yourself! I'm sorry for all of those things… If you can find the heart to forgive me, you know where to find me."

Chell walked away, out of the Central AI Chamber, out into the hallway connecting it with the other offices.  
Something stirred inside GLaDOS when she apologized… Something deep.

"You need to forgive her." A voice from inside told her, "It's the right thing to do."

It was her Morality Core, since it just activated, that means that Caroline did a few minutes before…

"Wait! Chell?" GLaDOS called after her, her voice sounding less computerized.

"Hmm?" Chell turned, and then panels started pushing her towards GLaDOS.

"I forgive you! But you didn't need to apologize, I do. My actions way back when were unreasonable, you could stick the blame on me, no matter what! I deserved to be killed. If you can forgive me, I'll give you full control of this facility, in more ways than one!"

"I forgive you too, GLaDOS!"

To be concluded…


	24. Epilogue

**AT LONG LAST! The final chapter of All Computers Have a Recycle Bin is PUBLISHED! Sorry to keep you waiting, but I had major writers block for this story. ENJOY!**

GLaDOS gave Chell full control of the Enrichment Center. A little too much, not only had she made her CEO, she also gave her the test chambers, panels, and all the other bells and whistles. Chell gave the panels and everything else, minus the test chambers, to GLaDOS because only she could work with them. Having control over the test chambers means designing them, connecting them, and using ATLAS and P-Body to test the test chambers, their new job. Chell also had a look at the game GLaDOS made for them, and explained that video games had been around since before she was born. Sadie also finally managed to see the Enrichment Center for the first time. She also quit working at the coffee shop and started working at the Aperture Cafeteria. Doug Rattmann was taken to hospital as well, he is alive and well, but the doctors there diagnosed him with schizophrenia, as you know he already has it, and gave him medication to compensate. Caroline is now Chell's secretary, like she was with Cave Johnson, and enjoys being awake again. But there are those mysterious, influential, menacing personality cores that Chell has to hunt down, but that's another story… Rick, "Craig", and the Space Core also got some new jobs. Rick is an emergency drill sergeant, "Craig", now fixed, is one of the teachers at Aperture University, a collage for people wanting to work there, and the Space Core, who is also fixed up to be a little less enthusiastic about space, is now in charge of the Aperture Science Moon rock Quarry, and is loving every minute of it. GLaDOS replaced the photo of Cave Johnson with a photo of Chell, and refurnished the office for her.

"So there, you're all set." GLaDOS announced.

"Yup, sure am!" Chell said, enthusiastically.

"So you don't need me at the moment?" GLaDOS asked.

"Nope, I'm fine." Chell said.

"Okay, I'll go check on the employees." She said, and left.

Chell relaxed in her comfy, ergonomic office chair, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"This is much better, not being enemies with GLaDOS. I wonder if Sadie will go into stasis when I do."

Chell had decided to do the impossible: Achieve longevity! In two years she is going to put herself in cryostasis with a timer set for a hundred years! She's will not be woken up, unless there's a major emergency. An evacuate-the-facility-immediately-in-the-next-five-minutes type of emergency.

"I wonder, who are those people- err, personality cores who threatened Wheatley and Caroline are...?"

She then received an eMail.

"Huh, as if on cue…"

It read:

Dear Chell:

You're a curious one aren't you?  
We are watching you constantly.  
Better not stick your nose where it doesn't belong, Chell.  
You have to be extremely careful, now that Aperture is open to the public again…

From –REDACTED-

PS: We can terminate your life at the drop of a pin.  
Caroline's and Wheatley's too!  
You know what to do, or what not to do, rather…

Chell stared blankly at the eMail. She was seething with utter rage at the thought.

_GLaDOS's chamber is completely secure, _Chell thought, _I'll go talk to her!_

She took a casual trip over to GLaDOS's Chamber, not wanting to alert anyone. Upon arrival she casually strode over to GLaDOS and whispered.

"Block of all access points, including the air ducts, sound proof the entire room, and do a scan for any bugs. Your scanners fry bugs as soon as they detect them, right."

"Right," GLaDOS whispered back, "But why?"

"We have a government problem…"

The End.

**A/N: Sorry for the cliff hanger, but it's just to tease you! Thanks for all who reviewed and followed/Favorited!**


	25. What will happen

GLaDOS called for Caroline on the PA, and when she arrived, GLaDOS completely secured her chamber, not even letting the dust mites in.

"We have air for three hours. Well, you two do, I'll have to open it all up soon." GLaDOS said.

"Three hours is plenty. I received this eMail only two minutes ago."

GLaDOS and Caroline read the eMail and nodded in understanding.

"Aha, I see what's going on." Caroline said, "Those cores are, in fact, part of the government. They wanted us to keep testing the Portal Gun, yet they didn't want us to release it to the public. I understand their motives, but the Portal Device would be a blessing to mankind."

"As well as a curse." GLaDOS added, "Think about the terrorists getting access to it. It can make their jobs a lot simpler."

"Yes, as I said, I understood their motives, but we have to make them sign a lot of paper work for a license for the Portal Device."

"That might make them show their background. But what about me, why am I involved in this?" Chell asked.

"Well, your memories aren't completely erased. If I told you your last name, your memories that were 'erased' will come flooding back."

"We're secure, you could tell me now."

"Thanks, but I value my life, thank you." Caroline said, sarcastically.

"Oh! Is that where GLaDOS's sarcasm came from!" Chell joked, "Is Doug involved somehow?" Chell asked, getting serious.

"Yes, but they said his Schizophrenia would keep him from being a threat. He's not constantly monitored."

"So, I take it these government people want the Portal Device for themselves."

"I was afraid it would come to that. Yes they do. They want it for…for… For their own…uh…personal needs."

"So they're evil."

"In a word, yes."

"We need to stop them!"

To Be Determined…


End file.
